Chapter 625: Launch!
On February 2nd, *Prototype* officially launched!
After several days of trial play and pre-release hype, the popularity of *Prototype* was unmatched at the time. This was due to the game's unique features and Chen Mo's vigorous promotion.
On major video websites, *Prototype* had already become a hot topic in the VR gaming section, with a large number of first-playthrough story introduction videos appearing. On various live-streaming platforms, many streamers from *League of Legends*, *Overwatch*, and single-player games were eagerly anticipating the game's release. And on Weibo, the hashtag #WelcomeToTheFoodChain was trending.
"Only letting you play the first part?"
The young lady replied, "All content is playable, charged by time."
"Nice!" A few young people couldn't wait to swipe their ID cards, each occupying a VR gaming pod.
Some other VR gaming companies had tried similar cooperative activities before, but they basically restricted game content. That is, during the early trial phase, players could directly experience the game, but as the game progressed to a certain point, they had to pay to purchase it.
These trial versions were provided to VR internet cafes by game companies for free, with the aim of getting players hooked on the game's opening and then prompting them to pay for the full experience.
Currently, players mainly went to VR internet cafes to play large-scale online games, like *Oracle of the Moon*, which had a very low entry fee, with the main revenue coming from additional value-added services.
Many players had been burned by these "trial games." Some single-player games, under the guise of "trial," were listed in VR internet cafes. The beginning played well, but halfway through, they couldn't continue without paying to purchase the game.
Logically, this pricing strategy was somewhat reasonable, but the problem was, no one wanted to buy it!
*Prototype*, however, adopted a different strategy, effectively shifting the risk onto the VR internet cafes. So, for players, this pricing strategy was much more friendly.
In fact, this strategy wasn't new; other developers had thought of it before. But the reason it hadn't become popular was, on one hand, because those games didn't have the characteristics of *Prototype*, and on the other hand, because they didn't have Chen Mo's reputation!
It was precisely because Chen Mo had many classic games to his name, almost every one of which had achieved a certain degree of success, that these VR internet cafe owners could confidently cooperate with Thunder Interactive Entertainment, purchasing large quantities of the internet cafe version of *Prototype* without worrying about losses.
Soon, the young people activated voice chat in their VR gaming pods and shared their gaming experiences with each other.
"Holy crap, experiencing this opening CG in a VR gaming pod is awesome! It feels like Alex is jumping right in front of me, so damn thrilling!"
"Wow, this Times Square segment is exactly like in the video! And only by playing it yourself do you realize that VR mode is a world of difference from watching a video!"
"Holy shit, I'm running on the rooftops! Climbing any building I want! I'm a bit acrophobic, I fell off!"
"Tanks and helicopters are all trash! Invincible!"
"Damn, how did this game even pass censorship? Can you believe this is a domestic game!"